Cruz Lifts Hold on Redl's NTIA Nomination, but Senate Vote Not Imminent
The path toward Senate confirmation of David Redl as NTIA administrator got clearer Monday after Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, lifted his hold preventing a vote on the nominee (see 1710230026). But final Senate consideration of Redl hadn't been scheduled at our deadline and was unlikely to occur this week, several communications sector lobbyists told us. Cruz’s long-standing concerns about Redl’s position on the 2016 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition prompted several delays of a Senate Commerce Committee vote on Redl (see 1706280027, 1706280061, 1708020052 and 1708160034). Cruz placed a hold on Senate action after the committee advanced Redl earlier this month on a voice vote (see 1710040063).
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Cruz’s “concerns have been resolved” after “conversations” with Redl and members of President Donald Trump’s administration, a spokesman for the senator emailed us Monday. Cruz’s office didn’t elaborate and industry lobbyists hadn’t heard at our deadline what Redl and the administration promised the senator. But two lobbyists said Cruz recently wrote to the administration offering to lift his hold on Redl in exchange for additional oversight of NTIA activities, including monthly reports on the agency’s interactions with ICANN and its administration of FirstNet and federal spectrum allocations. NTIA didn’t comment.
Senate Democrats “aren’t in a great mood” to allow Trump administration nominees to move under unanimous consent right now given ongoing objections to Republican leaders’ handling of Trump's judicial nominees, one Republican lobbyist said. Democrats are objecting to GOP proposals to end the “blue slip” tradition for a senator to block confirmation of judicial nominees from that senator's home state. It’s unlikely Democrats are “going to jump to hotline a Trump administration nominee” like Redl amid those conditions, the GOP lobbyist said.
Senate Republican leaders would be likely to include Redl in a package of administration nominees to be moved under unanimous consent, as they did in August to confirm now-FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1708030060), a communications sector lobbyist said. The eve of the Senate’s Nov. 20-24 recess is the likeliest time for the Senate to move on a unanimous consent package of that type, a telecom lobbyist said. “They always move nominees like Redl just before they’re set to go out” on recess, the lobbyist said.
Telecom and internet governance experts took reports on the end of Cruz’s hold as a good sign for Redl, even if a confirmation vote isn’t imminent. Cruz appears to have been the only major opponent to Redl, so the nominee would likely be easily confirmed even if the Senate needed to hold a recorded vote on him, one GOP lobbyist said. Redl’s likely confirmation means NTIA will finally have some “headroom to start acting” on a range of agency dockets that have been seen as largely in limbo amid the lack of permanent political leadership (see 1708160034), a communications sector lobbyist said. “Without a confirmed head” of NTIA action on spectrum and other matters hasn’t been moving without outside impetus, the lobbyist said. “They need an administrator in there” and Redl will be “making positive policy changes right away” once he takes over, said R Street Institute tech policy associate Joe Kane.
A quick Senate vote on Redl would be better for U.S. stakeholders as they head into ICANN’s next meeting, which is set to begin Oct. 28 in Abu Dhabi, a telecom and internet governance lobbyist told us. There is likely to be considerable debate during the meeting about consideration of Amazon’s 2013 application for the .amazon top-level domain, which the Governmental Advisory Committee held up amid objections from Brazil and Peru, said Shane Tews, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Internet, Communications and Technology Policy. The U.S. reversed in 2013 from its earlier support for Amazon’s application (see report in the July 8, 2013, issue), but the reconsideration of the case following a contentious review process means Redl will now need to grapple with whether U.S. policy on the TLD has changed, Tews said.